2025 was a big year for dystopian movies about deathly, televised competitions based on the work of Stephen King. Two of the prolific horror writer’s stories, featuring two very different portrayals of how government controls the masses through a mix of entertainment and economic motivation, arrived in theaters last year. And in case that wasn’t enough of a freaky coincidence, they’re both making their streaming debuts within a week of one another in January 2026.
The Long Walk, which tells the story of a televised death march across a financially decimated United States, recently started streaming on Starz. And as of this morning, The Running Man is available to watch on Paramount Plus.
Originally written by King and published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982, The Running Man was adapted into an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie just a few years later. In 2025, Edgar Wright (Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, etc.) offered up his own interpretation of King’s sci-fi thriller. While lacking the visual and musical flourishes that make Wright so beloved among certain cinephile circles, The Running Man is still a wild ride with plenty to say about everything from politics to AI.
Image: Paramount Pictures
Glen Powell plays Ben Richards, a working-class man with a baby at home. After Ben loses his job for speaking out against poor working conditions, his wife has to work long nights at a skeezy nightclub to support their family. With no other choice yet, he enlists in The Running Man, an in-universe game show in which contestants are hunted to death for 30 days. Survive, and he’ll win a billion dollars. (And even if he dies, his family still gets a life-changing payout.)
Like in any good dystopia, the odds are stacked against Ben. The all-powerful Network that both produces the game and controls the government isn’t about to let him win — not when their entire authoritarian world order is on the line. Instead, the Network uses every tool at its disposal, from killer drones to AI deepfakes, to chase Ben down and turn the public against him. It all builds up to a chaotic conclusion that loses any semblance of logic but still manages to go out with an anti-authoritarian bang.
The Running Man (both the movie and the in-universe game show) is entertaining, ultra-violent, and somewhat nonsensical. It might not be Wright’s best work (or King’s best story), but it’s well-worth watching now that the price of admission is a subscription service you may already be paying for — especially if you’ve already seen the far superior The Long Walk.
The Running Man is streaming now on Paramount Plus.
